Wog

For other uses, see WOG (disambiguation).

Wog is a slang word considered derogatory and in some instances, offensive when used in relation to ethnicity. In Australian English the term is a general pejorative for migrants from the Mediterranean and elsewhere.

Australian English

As with other slang and prima facie profanity used in contemporary Australian English, the ethnic term "wog" may be employed either aggressively or affectionately within differing contexts.

In Australia, the term 'WOG' is used towards people of Mediterranean ethnicity who reside in the main cities of Australia. It is used particularly towards the Middle Eastern Areas but mostly Lebanese communities in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Canberra

In the media

More recently European-Australian performing artists have taken ownership of the term "wog", defusing its original pejorative nature—the popular 1980s stage show Wogs Out of Work created by Nick Giannopoulos and Simon Palomares was an early example. The production was followed on television with Acropolis Now, starring Giannopoulos, Palomares, George Kapiniaris and Mary Coustas, and films The Wog Boy and Wog Boy 2: Kings of Mykonos and parodies such as those of Santo Cilauro, Eric Bana, Vince Colosimo, Nick Giannopoulos, Mary Coustas and SBS Television's offbeat Pizza TV series have continued this change in Australian cultural history—with some even classifying a genre of 'wogsploitation' of pop-culture products being created by and for a proudly "wog" market. Recent works of the genre have been used by Australians of non-English speaking backgrounds to assert ethnic identity, rather than succumb to ethnic stereotype. Upon the release of Wog Boy 2, Giannopoulos discussed the contemporary use of the term "wog" in the Australian context:

I think by defusing the word 'wog' we've shown our maturity and our great ability to adapt and just laugh things off, you know... When I first came [to Greece] and I started trying to explain to them why we got called 'wog' they'd get really angry about it, you know. They were, "Why? Why they say this about the Greek people?" You know? But then when they see what we've done with it—and this is the twist—that we've turned it into a term of endearment, they actually really get into that...

Thus, in contemporary Australia, the term "wog" may, in certain contexts, be viewed as a "nickname" rather than a pejorative term—akin to the nicknames ascribed within Australian English to other historically significant cultural groupings such as the English (nicknamed Poms), the Americans (nicknamed Yanks) and New Zealanders (nicknamed Kiwis).

British English

Wog in the UK is usually regarded as a racially offensive slang word referring to a dark-skinned or olive-skinned person from Africa or Asia. It can be applied to any darker-skinned people, but is used generally to refer to peoples of the East Indies and India, as well as immigrants from the Middle-East and Mediterranean. Most dictionaries refer to the word as derogatory and offensive.

The origin of the term may be unknown, but it was first noted by lexicographer F.C. Bowen, who recorded it in 1929 in his Sea slang: a dictionary of the old-timers’ expressions and epithets, where he defines wogs as "lower class Babu shipping clerks on the Indian coast." Unsupported folk etymology has long explained it as being an acronym for "Westernised (or "Wily") Oriental Gentlemen" used by the British in India and Pakistan, referring to the educated indigenous populace. Many dictionaries say "wog" derives from the golliwog, a blackface minstrel doll character from a children's book published in 1895, or from pollywog, a maritime term for someone who has not crossed the equator.

The saying "The wogs begin at Calais" (implying that everyone who is not British is a wog) appears to date from the First World War, but was popularised by George Wigg, Labour MP for Dudley, in 1949 when in a parliamentary debate concerning the Burmese, Wigg shouted at the Conservative benches, "The Honourable Gentleman and his friends think they are all 'wogs'. Indeed, the Right Honourable Member for Woodford [i.e. Winston Churchill] thinks that the 'wogs' begin at Calais."

Other meanings

• The "Wog", short for Killawog, New York. Generally this is only used by local residents or people who once lived in the region.
• "Wog", short for "wogglebug", extraterrestrials in Philip Jose Farmer's 1952 novella, The Lovers. (This name is in turn derived from Professor Woggle-Bug, a character in L. Frank Baum's Oz book series.)
• In David Drake's RCN Series, wog is used by citizens of the Republic of Cinnabar as a derogatory term for anyone not from Cinnabar, paralleling the British use of the term to describe non-Britons.
• WOG, is also used as slang in the Canadian Army, meaning "Without Guts", or "Without Guns". Used as a derogatory term by the infantry towards support trades.
• In Naval tradition, a "Wog" short for "Pollywog", is one who has not crossed the equator. Once across the equator and properly initiated, the wog is pronounced a shell back.
• Can refer to a combination of walking and jogging; for instance, interval jogging (30 seconds jog, 30 seconds walk), or a fast bouncing walk that resembles a jog.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Non-slang acronym

Various acronymical uses are recorded, for example:

• With Out Guarantee, Weight On Ground (aviation).
• "WOG" or "W.O.G." appears, always in capitals, on certain types or models of block or check valves, indicating they are suitable for "water-oil-gas" service, where gas normally means natural gas or propane. The letters are usually raised, having been cast with the valve body.
• With Out Giblets - kitchen term for poultry where the giblets and neck are not included in the bird's net weight.

Folk etymology

The term wog is often given a folk etymology as an acronym for various phrases:

• Working On Government Service, referring to Indians working for the British Raj, or referring to Egyptian labourers working on the Suez Canal during the British Occupation in the early 20th Century.

See also

• List of ethnic slurs

External links

• Wog Faq
• "Golliwogg.co.uk" An independent guide to Golliwogs
• NIBCO Technical Bulletin
• United Valves, Valve Standards in The Petrochemical & Refining Industry
• WOG